Further Reading

Assuming those are off-contract prices, they would make Ubuntu phones significantly cheaper than the iPhone 5S, which costs $649 to $849 depending on how much storage you get. The highest-end Android phones often sell for $600 and up as well, though the Nexus 5 debuted late last year at just $350 off contract.

"We're going with the higher end because we want people who are looking for a very sharp, beautiful experience and because our ambition is to be selling the future PC, the future personal computing engine," Shuttleworth said, according to The Inquirer report. The highest-end Ubuntu phones are expected to become full PCs when docked with a monitor, mouse, and keyboard.

Canonical previously tried to raise $32 million to fund the development of a premium smartphone called the Ubuntu Edge, with prices ranging from $600 to $830. But the crowdfunding campaign fell short, so the phone won't be built.

We have some reason to believe that neither major carriers nor handset manufacturers will offer Ubuntu phones in the US during 2014. Elsewhere, the first Ubuntu phones are expected to ship this year from two hardware manufacturers, BQ in Spain and Meizu in China.

UPDATE: A Canonical spokesperson told Ars that while the company provides pricing guidance to device makers, "the final pricing structures and go to market plans will be set by our partners, Meizu and BQ." The spokesperson confirmed that the prices quoted by Shuttleworth are the off-contract, unsubsidized guide prices.

62 Reader Comments

At $200 off-contract, there's a very good chance I'd buy one and try switching from WP8, assuming 4G compatability with AT&T's network and the ability to use the Android OnStar app (or when/if the app is released for native Ubuntu)...

This looks good and sounds like a good idea. I have reservations on whether or not the market can support 4 (or possibly even 3) different competing high-end smartphone operating systems and if Canonical can successfully execute, they've had issues before.

Considering the amount of hardware you get for 350 dollars these days (nexus 5) there really is no reason to go any higher with the price than that to get a good experience.

A cheaper phone for people who'd like to experiment with a phone would be a good idea though. As win phones demonstrate (i was pretty impressed by the numia 510's I've seen)you can have a pretty good user experience on exceedingly cheap hardware these days.

there really is no reason to go any higher with the price than that to get a good experience.

Physical keyboard.

Unfortunately they're expensive because (a) they don't have the same economies of scale as touchscreens and (b) manufacturers see any sort of moving parts (including keys) as a warranty liability.

But there are still people who will pay for it.

Didn't BlackBerry sell way more non keyboard than keyboard versions with their last iteration? It seems to me physical keyboards are very much a niche these days. I think that's not really what shuttleworth has in mind for ubuntu phones

Considering the amount of hardware you get for 350 dollars these days (nexus 5) there really is no reason to go any higher with the price than that to get a good experience. ...

There are a) users who don't want to subsidize the price of a new phone with their personal data, and therefore do not mind paying a slightly higher price, and b) there are manufacturers who either can't or don't want to make rummaging through their users' data part of the calculation for the price of the hardware.

So no, $350.00 is not the "reasonable" limit for everyone who wants a smartphone.

People who want keyboards, can connect any USB keyboard via USB On the Go. These cables aren't expensive. Also, if you search "Bluetooth keyboard" on Newegg (others, likely) you'll find all kinds of wireless options, from full size to notebook size to smartphone size. Yep, you can get one about the size of your phone for $20. Phone in one pocket, keyboard in the other. Easier still if you're of the purse-carrying (or satchel/messenger bag carrying) persuasion.

That said... these won't hit in the US. American carrier system is too screwed up. They'll just be outside the US like Firefox OS phones. Sure, you can buy one direct and use them on a couple smaller carriers, like the Nexus phones... but YMMV outside major metropolitan areas.

Considering the amount of hardware you get for 350 dollars these days (nexus 5) there really is no reason to go any higher with the price than that to get a good experience.

A cheaper phone for people who'd like to experiment with a phone would be a good idea though. As win phones demonstrate (i was pretty impressed by the numia 510's I've seen)you can have a pretty good user experience on exceedingly cheap hardware these days.

The other problem is the plummeting cost of Android hardware. In 2015 a <$200 Moto G is going to get you something quite a lot faster than a Nexus 4. Who is going to pay an extra 50-200 on top of that for a phone with less apps?

I still don't understand at all why they decided to make a Ubuntu phone. The market was already over crowded back when they decided to run with it, much less now when it's actually going to get released. Microsoft/Nokia had a hard enough time breaking into the market and they had actual brand recognition!

Considering the amount of hardware you get for 350 dollars these days (nexus 5) there really is no reason to go any higher with the price than that to get a good experience. ...

There are a) users who don't want to subsidize the price of a new phone with their personal data, and therefore do not mind paying a slightly higher price, and b) there are manufacturers who either can't or don't want to make rummaging through their users' data part of the calculation for the price of the hardware.

So no, $350.00 is not the "reasonable" limit for everyone who wants a smartphone.

eh, how so? Buy Nexus 5, delete all Google stuff. Or install cyanogenmod. No personal data compromised.(And I'd like to know which of the other phones, Microsoft or Apple, you can use without an account of some sort..?)

Considering the amount of hardware you get for 350 dollars these days (nexus 5) there really is no reason to go any higher with the price than that to get a good experience. ...

There are a) users who don't want to subsidize the price of a new phone with their personal data, and therefore do not mind paying a slightly higher price, and b) there are manufacturers who either can't or don't want to make rummaging through their users' data part of the calculation for the price of the hardware.

So no, $350.00 is not the "reasonable" limit for everyone who wants a smartphone.

eh, how so? Buy Nexus 5, delete all Google stuff. Or install cyanogenmod. No personal data compromised.(And I'd like to know which of the other phones, Microsoft or Apple, you can use without an account of some sort..?)

For example, just because I have an account with Microsoft or Apple does not automatically mean that the content of my emails will be scanned and I will be bombarded with "personalized" ads, each of which generates revenue for the manufacturer (Google). Thusly, those manufacturers who do not monetize their users' data to the same degree as Google will have a different basis for calculating their hardware prices.

Same thing with Amazon's kindle... like Google, they can afford minimal hardware margins (or even lose money on the hw) because they know in advance that every user will generate a revenue of X either with the data he/she provides, or the content he/she will purchase over the lifetime of the hardware

And while I love Cyanogenmod (it is what drives my Nexus 7, after all), we need to keep in mind that Cyanogenmod-using mega-dorks (like us readers/commenters here) make up a mere fraction of a cell phone manufacturer's respective market. Some of us may be "opinion makers", but that does not mean everyone goes through the same hassle when setting up his/her phone. Most won't, and we all know this.

That said... these won't hit in the US. American carrier system is too screwed up. They'll just be outside the US like Firefox OS phones. Sure, you can buy one direct and use them on a couple smaller carriers, like the Nexus phones... but YMMV outside major metropolitan areas.

We have some reason to believe that neither major carriers nor handset manufacturers will offer Ubuntu phones in the US during 2014. Elsewhere, the first Ubuntu phones are expected to ship this year from two hardware manufacturers, BQ in Spain and Meizu in China.

Do you think this is perhaps because right now Android is definitely a guaranteed ship and that alternatives like Tizen haven't reached the limelight? That perhaps they're waiting to see how it performs in Spain and China while they tinker with prototypes?

"We're going with the higher end because we want people who are looking for a very sharp, beautiful experience and because our ambition is to be selling the future PC, the future personal computing engine," Shuttleworth said, according to The Inquirer report. The highest-end Ubuntu phones are expected to become full PCs when docked with a monitor, mouse, and keyboard.

This is something I've been talking about since the iPad was released. Most people don't need a whole heck of a lot of computing power. The only thing we lack at this point is a mobile device that has a mobile interface when it is a mobile device, and a desktop interface when it's docked.

Considering the amount of hardware you get for 350 dollars these days (nexus 5) there really is no reason to go any higher with the price than that to get a good experience. ...

There are a) users who don't want to subsidize the price of a new phone with their personal data, and therefore do not mind paying a slightly higher price, and b) there are manufacturers who either can't or don't want to make rummaging through their users' data part of the calculation for the price of the hardware.

So no, $350.00 is not the "reasonable" limit for everyone who wants a smartphone.

eh, how so? Buy Nexus 5, delete all Google stuff. Or install cyanogenmod. No personal data compromised.(And I'd like to know which of the other phones, Microsoft or Apple, you can use without an account of some sort..?)

For example, just because I have an account with Microsoft or Apple does not automatically mean that the content of my emails will be scanned and I will be bombarded with "personalized" ads, each of which generates revenue for the manufacturer (Google). Thusly, those manufacturers who do not monetize their users' data to the same degree as Google will have a different basis for calculating their hardware prices.

Same thing with Amazon's kindle... like Google, they can afford minimal hardware margins (or even lose money on the hw) because they know in advance that every user will generate a revenue of X either with the data he/she provides, or the content he/she will purchase over the lifetime of the hardware

And while I love Cyanogenmod (it is what drives my Nexus 7, after all), we need to keep in mind that Cyanogenmod-using mega-dorks (like us readers/commenters here) make up a mere fraction of a cell phone manufacturer's respective market. Some of us may be "opinion makers", but that does not mean everyone goes through the same hassle when setting up his/her phone. Most won't, and we all know this.

edit: clarification

Perhaps. But even if you do sign in to google on your android phone you don't have to use chrome, or gmail, or google maps, or G+. And if you don't they're not tracking anything about you (as far as I know). There are tons of other services you can use (I use Dolphin browser and Duckduckgo for example). And I'd rather do that (on buggy ass android) than use the ugly looking, locked down iOS..

Considering the amount of hardware you get for 350 dollars these days (nexus 5) there really is no reason to go any higher with the price than that to get a good experience. ...

There are a) users who don't want to subsidize the price of a new phone with their personal data, and therefore do not mind paying a slightly higher price, and b) there are manufacturers who either can't or don't want to make rummaging through their users' data part of the calculation for the price of the hardware.

So no, $350.00 is not the "reasonable" limit for everyone who wants a smartphone.

eh, how so? Buy Nexus 5, delete all Google stuff. Or install cyanogenmod. No personal data compromised.(And I'd like to know which of the other phones, Microsoft or Apple, you can use without an account of some sort..?)

For example, just because I have an account with Microsoft or Apple does not automatically mean that the content of my emails will be scanned and I will be bombarded with "personalized" ads, each of which generates revenue for the manufacturer (Google). Thusly, those manufacturers who do not monetize their users' data to the same degree as Google will have a different basis for calculating their hardware prices.

Same thing with Amazon's kindle... like Google, they can afford minimal hardware margins (or even lose money on the hw) because they know in advance that every user will generate a revenue of X either with the data he/she provides, or the content he/she will purchase over the lifetime of the hardware

And while I love Cyanogenmod (it is what drives my Nexus 7, after all), we need to keep in mind that Cyanogenmod-using mega-dorks (like us readers/commenters here) make up a mere fraction of a cell phone manufacturer's respective market. Some of us may be "opinion makers", but that does not mean everyone goes through the same hassle when setting up his/her phone. Most won't, and we all know this.

edit: clarification

Perhaps. But even if you do sign in to google on your android phone you don't have to use chrome, or gmail, or google maps, or G+. And if you don't they're not tracking anything about you (as far as I know). There are tons of other services you can use (I use Dolphin browser and Duckduckgo for example). And I'd rather do that (on buggy ass android) than use the ugly looking, locked down iOS..

I never disputed that "staying under the radar" was possible for relatively tech-savvy folk.

But no matter how often you repeat it, that is not how hardware manufacturers calculate. Google knows precisely what percentage of Nexus customers is going to "circumvent" their revenue generators, and all of this is of course taken into consideration when the price of any new hardware is calculated. (*)

We are talking "vast majority" of buyers here, not a "fraction" thereof.

(* – How much does the hardware cost to develop/manufacture? What are the packaging/distribution/marketing costs? How much money will the average user spend in our app store over the lifetime of the device? How much revenue will he/she generate in advertising income over the same period? What percentage of buyers is going to deprive us of the two aforementioned revenue streams by installing third party ROMs? etc., etc. ... answer all those and you've got yourself a sound foundation upon which to calculate your price.)

Considering the amount of hardware you get for 350 dollars these days (nexus 5) there really is no reason to go any higher with the price than that to get a good experience. ...

There are a) users who don't want to subsidize the price of a new phone with their personal data, and therefore do not mind paying a slightly higher price, and b) there are manufacturers who either can't or don't want to make rummaging through their users' data part of the calculation for the price of the hardware.

So no, $350.00 is not the "reasonable" limit for everyone who wants a smartphone.

eh, how so? Buy Nexus 5, delete all Google stuff. Or install cyanogenmod. No personal data compromised.(And I'd like to know which of the other phones, Microsoft or Apple, you can use without an account of some sort..?)

For example, just because I have an account with Microsoft or Apple does not automatically mean that the content of my emails will be scanned and I will be bombarded with "personalized" ads, each of which generates revenue for the manufacturer (Google). Thusly, those manufacturers who do not monetize their users' data to the same degree as Google will have a different basis for calculating their hardware prices.

Same thing with Amazon's kindle... like Google, they can afford minimal hardware margins (or even lose money on the hw) because they know in advance that every user will generate a revenue of X either with the data he/she provides, or the content he/she will purchase over the lifetime of the hardware

And while I love Cyanogenmod (it is what drives my Nexus 7, after all), we need to keep in mind that Cyanogenmod-using mega-dorks (like us readers/commenters here) make up a mere fraction of a cell phone manufacturer's respective market. Some of us may be "opinion makers", but that does not mean everyone goes through the same hassle when setting up his/her phone. Most won't, and we all know this.

edit: clarification

Perhaps. But even if you do sign in to google on your android phone you don't have to use chrome, or gmail, or google maps, or G+. And if you don't they're not tracking anything about you (as far as I know). There are tons of other services you can use (I use Dolphin browser and Duckduckgo for example). And I'd rather do that (on buggy ass android) than use the ugly looking, locked down iOS..

I never disputed that "staying under the radar" was possible for relatively tech-savvy folk.

But no matter how often you repeat it, that is not how hardware manufacturers calculate. Google knows precisely what percentage of Nexus customers is going to "circumvent" their revenue generators, and all of this is of course taken into consideration when the price of any new hardware is calculated. (*)

We are talking "vast majority" of buyers here, not a "fraction" thereof.

(* – How much does the hardware cost to develop/manufacture? What are the packaging/distribution/marketing costs? How much money will the average user spend in our app store over the lifetime of the device? How much revenue will he/she generate in advertising income over the same period? What percentage of buyers is going to deprive us of the two aforementioned revenue streams by installing third party ROMs? etc., etc. ... answer all those and you've got yourself a sound foundation upon which to calculate your price.)

Well that sounds great to me! I do what I need to prevent tracking (DNT me, adblock etc) and other people who don't care pay the bills. As long as we have the option I really don't see a problem.

And since this is a tech blog I think most things should be considered from a techy perspective, we don't really care what less savy people buy/want. After all then we wouldn't be here..

It will be good to get more competition in the phone realm. I was an Ubuntu fanboy for several years but have since gone back to Windows-life. While I'll probably not migrate to an Ubuntu phone, I'm still very happy to see it finally materialize.

Or you could use a really good software keyboard which allows you to type even faster than you would on a physical one.

Such things don't exist. If they did, we'd all have replaced the keyboards at our computers with flat-panel touchscreens. I don't see a stampede in that direction…

For a full sized keyboard, an actual tactile keyboard is still the right tool. But there are some really good software keyboards for small screen touchscreen devices. Predictive text helps you hit the right keys more often than not. I can type nearly as fast with my 4.5" phone screen and two thumbs as I do on a real actual keyboard.

Weren't these supposed to be "superphones" that you could plug into a monitor and keyboard and use as a computer? How does this work on $200-$400 hardware?

That kind of money gets you a Nexus 5, which has more than enough computing power for 90% of anyone ever.

haha, yeah... no. With just 3-4 programs, and 10-15 tabs open at once my quad core PC feels too slow. A phone is not "more than enough power ever".Until computer interaction is instantaneous it's too slow.